Local News

County officials on Monday discussed
projects at Valley Hill and Grundy Home roads.
Bridge replacements are needed at both locations and Hornback Construction, based in Hodgenville, was awarded both projects after submitting the lowest bids for each. Hornback placed a bid of $29,940 for work on Valley Hill Road, with an estimate of $148,370 for the Grundy Home Road project.

Saying it was tired of waiting for Congress to take action, the U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday announced it plans to stop delivery and collecting of letters on Saturdays effective Aug. 5. But packages will continue to be delivered.
The postal service said the move would save $2 billion a year, according to CNN.
“It’s a responsible decision. It makes common sense,” said Patrick Donahoe, postmaster general and CEO of the postal service.

When the new Washington County High School opens its doors in fall 2014, district officials say it will be modern and refined with contemporary amenities found at Starbucks and other upscale businesses.
Plans for the 600-student capacity school show a sleek, 100,000 square-feet building, featuring Wi-fi hotspots and computerized kiosks meant to serve as a one-stop concierge for students and staff. A grand foyer will welcome visitors, while
furnishings will be flanked mostly in red, blue and neutral accents.

Details uncovered in court documents reveal a glimpse into the life of a Springfield family afflicted by tragedy and may ultimately provide a motive for a destructive 2010 house fire and the damning allegations that surfaced nearly a year later.
Kenneth W. Thompson, 45, of 202 Commercial Ave., who faces 36 counts of incest, is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing Feb. 20 in Washington Circuit Court.

On Saturday, Jan. 5 at around 5 p.m., Springfield native Christy Dye, now of Lebanon, was traveling down KY 555 in her 2008 Kia Sportage chatting with passengers Tina Cocanougher (her mother) and Mary Riley (her grandmother) on their way to see Cocanougher’s sister in Willisburg.

Washington County fiscal court announced the hiring of Washington County Solid Waste/Recycling Coordinator George Ann Palmer’s replacement on Friday. The newest county employee got started immediately, with training beginning on Monday of this week.
Brad Langford was selected to succeed Palmer, who announced last month that she will be stepping down from the position on March 1.

A Willisburg family is safe but without their home, after it was completely destroyed by a Saturday morning fire.
Fire and rescue crews were called to the burning structure on Montgomery Lane, just south of the Bluegrass Parkway, sometime between 10 and 11 a.m. on Feb. 2, according to reports from Willisburg Fire Chief Jessie Carney.
“The structure was fully involved when we got there,” he said. “We knocked the fire down on it, but everything was completely destroyed.”

In 1963, The Beatles’ first song, “From Me to You,” hit the UK charts. Mickey Mantle knocked a baseball out of Yankee Stadium. And “The Judy Garland Show” debuted on the CBS network. But for African-Americans who endured that tumultuous year the memories were often rooted in fear, coercion and intimidation.
In 1963, segregationists clashed — sometimes violently — with blacks and those who supported their civil rights. African-Americans fought firehoses, corrupt cops and Ku Klux Klan crucifixions.